I'd give these medical students a big fat FAIL for wasting their time studying this eco-obsessive topic:
Operations to replace worn out knees in Canada ... generating nearly half a million kilograms of surgical waste every year, according to a new study that says more needs to be done to "green" the nation's ORs.The "researchers" extrapolate to generate what they think are impressive levels of landfill waste. For some real perspective, let's calculate that waste on a per capita basis: 408,000/(34 million) = .012 Kg per person = less than 1/2 of one ounce per person PER YEAR of landfill waste. Every Canadian generates many times that amount of waste on a DAILY basis much less annually. It's a drop in the bucket.
... "It is imperative that efforts to promote sustainable OR practices are strengthened," they said. [There's that annoying, over-used and... abused word "sustainable" again. When I hear it, I want to reach for my 357 Magnum.]
"... average surgical waste per surgery was 13.3 kilograms. When extrapolated to the more than 47,000 knee replacements performed in Canada in 2008-09, the authors estimated knee surgeries generated 407,889 kg of landfill waste."
This kind of "study" may be suitable for majors in eco-freakery or anal-efficiency, but medicine? If this is what the three medical students think important to the advancement of medical science, then, when they graduate and become MD's, please, KEEP THEM THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!
3 comments:
Guess they don't realize that most OR garbage is incinerated and never gets near a landfill. SOR
They did recognize this but complain that too much non-hazardous waste is incinerated along with the bio-hazardous stuff thereby wasting precious energy.
I'd say not wasting time, energy and safety trying to separate the two.
I guess these jokers are advocating a dramatic increase in wheel chairs.
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